Tag Archives: food

Hello Christmas! My favorite and special holiday that still play magic on me. . . May you never stop searching the skies on Christmas eve!

Food is a big part of the festivities, and why not deck the table with some relish hors d’oeuvres to wow everyone. Go beyond regular and add let your food presentation as well say it’s Christmas time.

At this time of the year, red and green are not just regular colors!

Guacamole tostitos scoops, are a beautiful and festive amuse bouche, to be on your christmas table. It’s always good to have an easy-to-pick-up food that requires no fork or spoon.

You will need:

20 tostitos scoops (tortilla chips)

1 big ripe avocado

1 tsp garlic salt

lemon juice (as per your taste)

diced capsicum for garnish

sour cream optional

A very easy and last minute preparation, no efforts or time needed. All you have to do is to layer the ingredients in the tostitos scoops. Starting with the sour cream, (if you decided to put), then guacamole and finally garnish with the finely diced red capsicum. To make the guacamole, puree the avocado, roughly with a fork, (when it’s really ripe, you don’t need more than a fork to mash it) and mix it with garlic salt and lemon juice. Adjust the ingredients as per your taste, condiments are always subjective.

You will love these bites, and trust me they will disappear in seconds!

I wish you an extraordinary “reveillon” full of delicious food, warmth, blessings, lots of gifts, memories, laughter and love. Chocolate doesn’t come as a wish, i am sure it’s for granted 😉

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I heart appetizers, actually we (my husband and I) heart appetizers. I believe this love runs in the blood, as we are Lebanese, we come from the land of birthplace of mezze.

I confess, sometimes we only order a variety of these convivial small dishes and we never reach to the main dish.

Turkey and mozzarella braid is one of our favorite appetizer, prepared with few ingredients and served on your table in less than 20 minutes.

You will need:

one sheet of puff pastry (300g)

100g turkey (5-6 slices)

100g mozzarella (4-5 slices)

1 tbsp red fruits jam

11/2 tbsp pesto

egg wash before baking

Roll the pastry dough into a 30 cm x 30 cm square. Lightly divide it (without cutting) into 3 equal rectangles. Using a rotary cutter or simply the pizza cutter cut about ten strips, on the side rectangles. Leave the center rectangle intact. Remove the corner sections from each of the 4 corners strips.

Spread the jam in the center followed by a layer of turkey, i chose the one with herbs, then mozzarella and finally pesto. Start by folding the top right strip over the filling slightly diagonal and press lightly to adhere. Then fold the top left stripe in the same manner. Repeat with the remaining strips until you reach the end, but before folding the last two strips make sure you folded the bottom flap.

Follow the scheme for a easy tutorial of this no fail braid. Brush the top with eggwash and bake on 200°C for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve it with extra red fruit and pesto dip.

Bon appetit!

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A very simple recipe where Tahina is the main ingredient for the sauce, in which the baked fish will bathe. Onion and lemon juice come to add the deep flavor and sour kick. The added bonus here are the roasted almonds and pine nuts that creates the contrast with its crunchiness.

Whether you are planning to serve it as an appetizer or main dish, you will have everyone licking their lips in anticipation.

You will need:

500g fish fillet or whole fish to be baked, could be sea bass, hamour or red snapper or any available white fish of your choice.

1 cup tahina (sesame paste)

1 1/4 cup water

2 tbsp lemon

2 medium onion cut a la julienne

2 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

roasted almonds and pine nuts for topping

chopped coriander for garnish

First start by oven baking the fish. Set aside the fillets (or deboned whole fish) to prepare the sauce.

Cook the onion with olive oil until tender, keep stirring while cooking as you don’t want them to brown. In a bowl mix together tahina, water, lemon and salt before pouring over the onion, you want the sauce a bit runny because it will thicken a bit while on heat. When you see the first bubble forming, turn off the heat and stir in the fish.

On a serving plate, sprinkle the top with roasted almonds and pine nuts. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve. You can have it warm, at room temperature or cold.

If you want to eat like a lebanese, then serve it with pita bread to seal the deal.

A middle eastern/Lebanese specialty dish that’s full of flavors with few ingredients. If you never cooked your fish this way, you should consider trying marmite et ponpon recipe and you will never regret.

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Many of you find no time to cook dinner after long days at work, with kids or simply not fan of cooking. Sandwiches come to rescue the situation and satisfy your cravings; You can sup up any simple sandwich to become a consistent delicious meal. Not just that, it’s a pleasure to the eye also with all these colors blend .

All you need is the right and a smarter choice of pairing your sandwich ingredients. I will start with the grilled halloumi and pesto sandwich. They say pesto perks up milder ingredients and i confirm that! You need:

2-3 slices of grilled halloumi

1 tsp pesto

1 tsp olive tapenade

roasted\grilled bell pepper (i had orange capsicum at home, you can choose from red, orange or yellow)

rocket leaves

4-5 seedless olives

your choice of bread, mine is a multi-cereal bun

Spread pesto and tapenade on the bread. Top it with a layer of rocket leaves, this very low in calories vegetable; 100 g of fresh leaves hold just 25 calories. Nonetheless, it has many vital phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, vitamins, and minerals that may immensely benefit your health. Lay the grilled halloumi slices then roasted bell pepper. One half bell pepper supplies all the vitamin C and 80% of the vitamin A you need in a day. Bell peppers are naturally sweet, and roasting them adds a smoky accent to make a balance with the salt in cheese and olives. You can repeat or shuffle the ingredients as per your taste.

This sandwich presents the right harmony without having any ingredient overpowering the other.

If you like the idea of the sandwich makeovers, stay tuned for the next post with another delicious, quick and healthy choices.

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In a previous post, i shared the recipe of batata soufflé, explaining that is the lebanese variation of the french dish “hachis parmentier” and the british dish “shepherd pie”.

Et voila the shepherd pie, a great comfort food recipe that’s easy to make! For Lebanese people or to the one who knows the traditional lebanese dishes, you will notice that it’s a mix of “batata soufflé” and “bazella w riz” but instead of the rice it’s served with potato purée on top.

This recipe is so versatile, some add cheese or herbs and some add more veggies, gravy or broth. For marmite et ponpon recipe you will need: (serving 4-6 people)

2 medium onion, medium diced

1/4 cup celery and leek, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

250g minced beef

1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste

2 large carrots coarsely chopped

1 cup water

1 cup or almost 250g peas (frozen or canned)

salt to taste

1 kg mashed potato (purée style with milk and butter)

dry mint to sprinkle on top

1 cup grated parmesan

Cook onion, celery and leek with olive oil until tender and fragrant. Add mince beef and cook together until the meet is browned. Stir in tomato paste, carrots and water then simmer for 20 minutes. I you are using frozen peas, add them to simmer for another 10-15 minutes but if you are putting the canned ones, you only need to simmer for another 2-3 minutes as they are already cooked and you don’t want them to melt in.

Pour them in a baking dish to cover with the mashed potato. Sprinkle some dried mint (almost 1 tsp) and grated parmesan and bake on 180°C for 15 minutes or until cheese is melt and golden.

You don’t need to be expert or love cooking when you have a foolproof recipe. It’s an easy and flavorful dish, if you have kids i am sure they will love it. Don’t hesitate to try one new dish each week, food is always a great pleasure!

If you like this post give it some likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.